NASA ISS On-Orbit Status 30 October 2011

All ISS systems continue to function nominally, except those noted previously or below. Sunday – Crew off duty. Ahead: Week 7 of Increment 29 (three-person crew).

* At Baikonur/Kazakhstan, the new cargo ship Progress M-13M/45P (#413) was launched this morning on time at 6:11am EDT on a Soyuz-U rocket fueled with 392 tons of LO2, over 80 tons of kerosene, and nearly 70 tons of LN2, H2O2 and other elements. Ascent was nominal, and all spacecraft systems were without issues. All arrays and antennas deployed nominally (2 solar arrays, 5 KURS antennas, 1 Rassvet-M antenna for TORU, 1 SBI/M-BITS onboard measurement / telemetry system antenna). Docking to the DC1 (Docking Compartment) Pirs nadir port is planned for Wednesday, 11/2, at ~7:40am, to deliver 750 kg (1,653 lbs) of propellant, 50 kg (110 lbs) of oxygen, 420 kg (926 lbs) of water and 1410 kg (3,108 lbs) of dry cargo (supplies, experiment hardware, etc.)]

FE-4 Volkov performed the routine inspection of the SM (Service Module) PSS Caution & Warning panel as part of regular Daily Morning Inspection.

At wakeup, CDR Fossum checked the running BCAT-6 (Binary Colloidal Alloy Test-6)-Phase Separation experiment for camera & flashlight battery charge and later in the day performed additional checks on the payload, looking for crystals, changing camera battery, downloading images and restarting the Intervalometer for automated flash photography. The SSC (Station Support Computer) laptop with EarthKAM software is not being used for this run. [The camera is running for a total of 7 days, taking a photo of the turbid Sample 1 every hour. While Sample 1 is running, crystal checks on Samples 6-10 will be performed each day. Camera battery change and Intervalometer restart is done three times a day. Objective of BCAT-6-Phase Separation: to gain unique insights into how gas and liquid phases separate and come together in microgravity. These fundamental studies on the underlying physics of fluids could provide the understanding needed to enable the development of less expensive, longer shelf-life household products, foods, and medicines.]

As another VolSci (Voluntary Weekend Science) activity, FE-5 Furukawa serviced the FPEF MS (Fluid Physics Experiment Facility / Marangoni Surface) payload in the JAXA Kibo laboratory by removing & replacing 5 HDs (hard disks) of the IPU VRU (Image Processing Unit / Video Recording Unit),- #1027, #1028, #1029, #1030, #1031. [The replaced VRU disks (#1021, #1023, #1024, #1025, #1026) were put in a Ziploc bag for return to SSIPC (Space Station Integration & Promotion Center/Tsukuba)].

Sergey Volkov conducted the routine daily servicing of the SOZh system (Environment Control & Life Support System, ECLSS) in the SM. This included the weekly collection of the toilet flush (SP) counter and water supply (SVO) readings for calldown to TsUP-Moscow, as well as the weekly checkup on the Russian POTOK-150MK (150 micron) air filter unit of the SM’s & FGB’s SOGS air revitalization subsystem, gathering weekly data on total operating time & “On” durations for calldown. [SOZh servicing includes checking the ASU toilet facilities, replacement of the KTO & KBO solid waste containers and replacement of EDV-SV waste water and EDV-U urine containers].

At ~11:20am, Mike & Satoshi held a CDE (Crew Discretionary Event) with Dan Burbank, the upcoming CDR of Expedition 30, currently at Star City, on training and handover topics.

The crew had their weekly PFCs (Private Family Conferences) on today’s schedule, via S-band/audio and Ku-band/MS-NetMeeting application (which displays the uplinked ground video on an SSC laptop), Satoshi at ~6:00am, Mike at ~9:05am, Sergey at ~3:45pm EDT.

The crew worked out with their regular 2-hr physical exercise protocol on the CEVIS cycle ergometer with vibration isolation (FE-5), TVIS treadmill with vibration isolation & stabilization (FE-4/), ARED advanced resistive exercise device (CDR, FE-4, FE-5), and T2/COLBERT advanced treadmill (CDR).

Tasks listed for Sergey Volkov on the Russian discretionary “time permitting” job for today were –

* Continuing the preparation & downlinking of more reportages (written text, photos, videos) for the Roskosmos website to promote Russia’s manned space program (max. file size 500 Mb),

* The daily inspection of the recently activated Russian BIO-5 Rasteniya-2 (“Plants-2”) payload with its LADA-01 greenhouse, verifying proper watering of the KM A32 & A24 root modules; [Rasteniya-2 researches growth and development of plants (currently wheat) under spaceflight conditions in the LADA greenhouse from IBMP (Institute of Bio-Medical Problems, Russian: IMBP)],

* Another ~30-min. session for Russia’s EKON Environmental Safety Agency, making observations and taking KPT-3 aerial photography of environmental conditions on Earth using the NIKON D3X camera with the RSK-1 laptop,

* Closing down the KPT-21 PK-3+ Plasma Crystal-3+ experiment in MRM2 Rassvet and dismantling plus packing the payload equipment, and

* Another ~30-min. run of the GFI-8 “Uragan” (hurricane) earth-imaging program with the NIKON D3X digital camera with Sigma AF 300-800mm telelens, aiming for the Hudson Volcano in Chile and tropical typhoons in the Gulf of Mexico.

ISS Orbit (as of this morning, 8:30am EDT [= epoch])

* Mean altitude – 389.5 km
* Apogee height – 404.0 km
* Perigee height – 375.1 km
* Period — 92.35 min.
* Inclination (to Equator) — 51.64 deg
* Eccentricity — 0.0021296
* Solar Beta Angle — -17.3 deg (magnitude increasing)
* Orbits per 24-hr. day — 15.59
* Mean altitude loss in the last 24 hours — 161 m
* Revolutions since FGB/Zarya launch (Nov. 98) — 74,204
* Time in orbit (station) – 4727 days
* Time in orbit (crews, cum.) — 4014 days

Significant Events Ahead (all dates Eastern Time and subject to change):
————–Three-crew operations (Increment 29)————-
11/02/11 — Progress M-13M/45P docking (~7:40am)
11/13/11 — Soyuz TMA-03M/28S launch – D.Burbank (CDR-30)/A.Shkaplerov/A.Ivanishin (11:14pm)
11/16/11 — Soyuz TMA-03M/28S docking (MRM2) (~12:45am)
————–Six-crew operations————-
11/22/11 — Soyuz TMA-02M/27S undock/landing (End of Increment 29) (~9:21pm)
————–Three-crew operations————-
12/xx/11 — SpaceX Falcon 9/Dragon — (Under Review)
12/21/11 — Soyuz TMA-04M/29S launch – O.Kononenko (CDR-31)/A.Kuipers/D.Pettit — (Target Date)
12/23/11 — Soyuz TMA-04M/29S docking (MRM1) — (Target Date)
————–Six-crew operations—————-
TBD — Progress M-13M/45P undock
TBD — Progress M-14M/46P launch
TBD — Progress M-14M/46P docking (DC-1)
02/29/12 — ATV3 launch readiness
TBD — Soyuz TMA-03M/28S undock/landing (End of Increment 30)
————–Three-crew operations————-
03/xx/12 — Soyuz TMA-05M/30S launch – G.Padalka (CDR-32)/J.Acaba/K.Volkov — (Target Date)
04/xx/12 — Soyuz TMA-05M/30S docking (MRM2) — (Target Date)
————–Six-crew operations—————-
05/05/12 — 3R Multipurpose Laboratory Module (MLM) w/ERA – launch on Proton (under review)
05/06/12 — Progress M-14M/46P undock
05/07/12 — 3R Multipurpose Laboratory Module (MLM) – docking (under review)
05/xx/12 — Soyuz TMA-04M/29S undock/landing (End of Increment 31)
————–Three-crew operations————-
05/xx/12 – Soyuz TMA-06M/31S launch – S.Williams (CDR-33)/Y.Malenchenko/A.Hoshide
05/xx/12 – Soyuz TMA-06M/31S docking
————–Six-crew operations—————-
09/xx/12 — Soyuz TMA-05M/30S undock/landing (End of Increment 32)
————–Three-crew operations————-
10/xx/12 — Soyuz TMA-07M/32S launch – K.Ford (CDR-34)/O.Novitskiy/E.Tarelkin
10/xx/12 – Soyuz TMA-07M/32S docking
————–Six-crew operations————-
11/xx/12 — Soyuz TMA-06M/31S undock/landing (End of Increment 33)
————–Three-crew operations————-
11/xx/12 — Soyuz TMA-08M/33S launch – C.Hadfield (CDR-35)/T.Mashburn/R.Romanenko
12/xx/12 – Soyuz TMA-08M/33S docking
————–Six-crew operations————-
03/xx/13 — Soyuz TMA-07M/32S undock/landing (End of Increment 34)
————–Three-crew operations————-
03/xx/13 – Soyuz TMA-09M/34S launch – P.Vinogradov (CDR-36)/C.Cassidy/A.Misurkin
03/xx/13 – Soyuz TMA-09M/34S docking
————–Six-crew operations————-
05/xx/13 – Soyuz TMA-08M/33S undock/landing (End of Increment 35)
————–Three-crew operations————-
05/xx/13 – Soyuz TMA-10M/35S launch – M.Suraev (CDR-37)/K.Nyberg/L.Parmitano
05/xx/13 – Soyuz TMA-10M/35S docking
————–Six-crew operations————-
09/xx/13 – Soyuz TMA-09M/34S undock/landing (End of Increment 36)
————–Three-crew operations————-
09/xx/13 – Soyuz TMA-11M/36S launch – M.Hopkins/TBD (CDR-38)/TBD
09/xx/13 – Soyuz TMA-11M/36S docking
————–Six-crew operations————-
11/xx/13 – Soyuz TMA-10M/35S undock/landing (End of Increment 37)
————–Three-crew operations————-
11/xx/13 – Soyuz TMA-12M/37S launch – K.Wakata (CDR-39)/R.Mastracchio/TBD
11/xx/13 – Soyuz TMA-12M/37S docking
————–Six-crew operations————-
03/xx/14 – Soyuz TMA-11M/36S undock/landing (End of Increment 38)
————–Three-crew operations————-